On Saturday 3rd February, the Ulster Team Rapidplay Championships were held at the Good Shepherd Centre on the Ormeau Road in Belfast. A total of 72 players competed over two large rooms, making it the largest chess tournament held in Northern Ireland over the past 10 years. Competitors ranged in age from 8 to 70 year olds and travelled as far away as Derry and Dublin. There was a wonderful buzz in the air and children enjoyed playing on the giant chess set in-between rounds.

The tournament welcomed back multi-award winning champion Gabor Horvath who played top board for Strand 1, the team that dominated the senior section to secure the shield with 19.5 points from 25. In comfortable second place, Muldoons finished on 15 points, with Ballynafeigh 1 ending on 12 points to take 3rd place.

The intermediate section saw the three top seeds of Bangor, Derry and Belfast South all enter the last round with only half a point between them. After a very close battle, Bangor triumphed with 17 points, with Derry finishing 2nd on 16 points, no mean feat considering they only had four players. Third place went to Belfast South.

The junior section saw the teenage team of Strand 3 win the championship with 15 points, while Strand 4 ended on 12 to lift 2nd place and Ballynafeigh 2 came 3rd.

The highest scoring players on each board are listed below. Well done to all the competitors and thank you for such a fun day.

REGISTRATION: Please email Brendan Jamison atplaychessni@gmail.com by noon on Saturday January 20. Rooms in the venue need to be booked in advance therefore two weeks notice is required for teams to be entered into this tournament.

ENTRY FEES:

£1 per player. All entry fees are for covering the cost of heating the venue for the day.

FORMAT: 2 sections. 6 teams in top section, 8 teams in lower section. Top 3 seeded teams in lower section are only eligible to win the Intermediate title, whilst the highest finishing team from seeds 4-8 will be awarded the Junior title. Each team will have 5 players, seated at the board in order of grading, as per the league rules (players may swap within 100 rating points of each other). In cases where a player does not have a rapidplay rating, their standard UCU rating will be used. Unrated players must play below rated players.

TIME CONTROL: 30 minutes per player for all the moves therefore games will last a maximum of 1 hour.

POINTS:

Unlike the league, no bonus points will be awarded when a team wins or draws their match therefore only individual board results will be calculated to determine the winning team in each section at the end of the 5 rounds.

TIE BREAKS: For tie-breaks, players will be ranked based on their head-to-head team scores. If this is also tied, a team blitz-off will be played with a time control of 3+2. A coin will be flipped to determine which team gets 3 Whites.

PRIZE:

The winning team in the Senior Section will be presented with the Ulster Team Rapidplay Shield.

TIMETABLE:

ENTRY FEE PAYMENTS

10:45am

ROUND 1

11:00am to 12:00pm

ROUND 2

12:05pm to 1:05pm

LUNCH BREAK

1:05pm to 2:05pm

ROUND 3

2:05pm to 3:05pm

ROUND 4

3:10pm to 4:10pm

ROUND 5

4:15pm to 5:15pm

RULES: FIDE rules will apply. Touchmove will apply. The second illegal move will result in the immediate loss of the game, however, your opponent must pause the clock and announce to the arbiter when the first illegal move has been played and then once again announce the second illegal move has been played before claiming the win, provided the player still has mating material left on the board, otherwise only a draw can be claimed. If play continues, the opponent may not claim the win retrospectively.

CAR PARKING: Ample free spaces are available in the church car park which players will drive through to get to the building.

KEY CODE: Players must register in advance to get the key code to enter the pedestrian gate after parking their vehicles in the church car park.

PREVIOUS WINNERS OF THE TEAM RAPIDPLAY CHAMPIONSHIPS

2016 Winners: Ballynafeigh 1. For the 2016 tournament, the teams had six players per squad. Left to right: David Houston, Michael Sheerin, Brendan Jamison (Captain), Thomas Donaldson, Robert Lavery and Damien Cunninghman (out of frame).

VENUE:

Inside the main playing room at the Good Shepherd Centre, 511 Ormeau Rd, Belfast BT7 3GS

Good Shepherd Centre, 511 Ormeau Rd, Belfast BT7 3GS

Entrance from the Ormeau Road to the playing Venue: Good
Shepherd Centre, 511 Ormeau Rd, Belfast BT7 3GS